You became an emperor by letting me AFK.

Breaking a promise is not good.

The astute Xue Yong naturally noticed that something was amiss, and the cheers and applause he had imagined finally arrived:

"Praise be to Heaven, congratulations to the High Priest."

Feng Tianyin, who had been sitting upright, stepped down, her hands behind her back, her steps steady, her gaze not on the hall but on the distant mountain pass.

She whispered to Yu Xue beside her, "I want to see that guy who defected from the forest camp."

"Yes, ma'am, I'll arrange it immediately."

Chapter 21 Pomelos and Peaches

Xiayi Underground Prison.

This place is built two levels underground in a dark and damp environment, and there is a slight chill in the air even in late summer and early autumn.

The prisoners were mostly serious offenders, lawless soldiers, disobedient slave owners or officials, who were frequently tortured and screamed in agony.

"Please don't burn me anymore, I know I was wrong."

"That won't do. You have to remember this lesson."

Screams were heard every day, and the prison guards in charge of the prison management often made bets on who would scream the loudest that day, taking pleasure in it.

"ah--"

The results are in: it's a barbarian who claims to have defected, carrying intelligence. Unfortunately, he only revealed a portion, claiming he wanted to make a deal. Can we tolerate that? Lock him up and subject him to severe torture.

The jailer brutally whipped the barbarian bound to the cross, leaving his chest a bloody mess.

He regretted it; he should have known better than to be so clever.

It was too late. This dark and smelly underground prison was easy to get into but hard to get out of. In the corner, there were gleaming white bones, and the future seemed bleak.

Snapped!

Another lash struck his chest, a searing pain that tore through flesh and blood.

The whips here are special; they're made of rough material, soaked in salt water, and hurt terribly when used. Moreover, the jailers are all highly skilled, ensuring you won't die immediately, but the pain will be excruciating, effectively eroding your willpower.

Once you're here, you'll stop being so stubborn.

"My lord, I have told you everything, there is nothing more to say. Please, have mercy and let me see the high priest."

"If you confess everything, I won't be bored. That's not how the Imperial Prison works. You have to be defiant to the death first, call me a lackey and a scoundrel, and then I'll let you experience all sorts of services. We need to interact more, unlock more branching options, and create different endings."

"What is all this nonsense?"

"That's what the high priest said when he first came to interrogate the prisoner. We didn't really understand it, but that's what the adults told us."

Faced with such a erratic behavior, the barbarian captive traitor felt that his hope of escaping was even slimmer.

Am I going to die here as the price for tipping someone off?

No.

The forest camp wasn't a good place either. It was his fault for being too arrogant back then, boasting that he had intelligence and wanted to make a deal with the Great Qian, asking for an exorbitant price. In the end, they completely ignored him and directly imprisoned and tortured him.

It wasn't just torture; the food, cell conditions, and instruments of torture were far worse than those of the people of Daqian. They were not treated like human beings at all.

"Put aside all your work and come to inspect the higher-ups."

The duty officer's loud shout rang out, and all the prison guards rushed to the prison gate.

Even the imprisoned prisoners showed a degree of respect, because there weren't many people in Xiayi who could be called "superiors," could it be...?

Welcome.

Warden Lu Chen greeted a young woman in a sacrificial robe with a smile. Her purple eyes swept across the cells, and everyone immediately straightened up. That inorganic, emotionless gaze was truly terrifying; it was hard not to be frightened by even a glance from her.

The agents of humanity, the highest authority of the Great Qian Dynasty, every brick and tile here is a tangible manifestation of power.

Everyone was brought into the picture by her judgment.

Whether to punish or pardon is a matter of a single thought; both kindness and severity coexist.

"I don't like wooden-barred cells; they're unsafe and prone to insects. Try to replace them with metal ones. Expand them further, make them even darker, so they'll resemble the Irithyll Underground Prison."

"Yes, ma'am."

Although the high priest often cites reference cases that only he himself understands, at least the first half of the sentence is comprehensible.

The warden hurriedly nodded and bowed, agreeing to the order.

After giving her instructions, Feng Tianyin went about her own business, scanning and inspecting the serious criminals she had personally brought in.

Criminal cases are rare these days, so they're just unlucky; any murder case will end up on her desk. She'll be responsible for upholding the law impartially, and they'll only have themselves to blame. As for the trivial civil cases, those are mostly handled by Li Zhengxuan.

It's not too late to increase the number of judges later to reduce her workload.

While the gray-haired girl was inspecting the prison, Yu Xue, who was behind her, instructed the warden to take out the confession records. The warden obediently handed them over and then passed them on to his superior.

"good."

Still using quantum reading, I memorized everything just by flipping through the pages.

Due to the nature of their work, temples, prisons, and colleges are currently the first departments to adopt paper-based office practices.

But this is the smallest in scale.

After all, the Great Qian Dynasty was a peaceful and prosperous place; where would so many serious criminals come from? Especially traitors who voluntarily defected—that was even rarer. Even Feng Tianyin was intrigued and quickly arrived at the prison cell door.

"Lu Chen, can't you tidy him up a bit? Let him see the High Priest with some dignity."

The warden instructed the guards to do so, and then he himself joined in.

As the head of a powerful department, he held a very high rank and had countless people currying favor with him, yet he still feared Yu Xue, a senior clerk who was a permanent clerk in the temple.

Are you not afraid that the heavens will hear your voice at any time?

So he rolled up his sleeves and, together with his men, quickly mopped and cleaned the floor, giving the prisoners a thorough dressing-down before finally settling into a chair.

Feng Tianyin sat opposite her, her eyes flickering, and slowly spoke:

"Your confession mentions that the forest camp leader actually used the construction project as a pretext to extort money, and everyone was deceived. Moreover, you still have the shamanistic and obscene belief, and the tradition of human sacrifice. You even planned to have some people pretend to submit, infiltrate them, and then rebel?"

"Correct."

The temple officials wore grim expressions, having already sentenced the enemy to death in their hearts.

The high priest hit the nail on the head, concluding from three angles—the reliability of the other party's leader, incompatibility of beliefs, and malicious intent—that the letter's good intentions were false.

"Is this why you left?"

"Not only that. There's also the leader's henchman, Xue Yong. That guy often beats people up; a dozen or so men can't stop him once he starts, and he's incredibly ruthless. In short, everything in the forest camp is rotten to the core."

This statement aroused Yu Xue's suspicion:

“He was very honest in front of the high priest… but this guy doesn’t seem to be lying either; that messenger was all bark and no bite.”

The warden chimed in, "The High Priest is so gracious and virtuous that he frightened that barbarian."

Based on the more detailed confession records, Feng Tianyin understood the situation. It turned out that he was an unlucky guy who couldn't stand the oppression, but it was even more terrible that he fell into the hands of Warden Lu Chen.

"So you wanted to eat pomelos and peaches."

"ah? "

Only the captives who had little contact with the high priest and did not understand his divine pronouncements responded; the other two high-ranking officials remained silent, keeping their eyes down.

There's no need to respond at this crucial moment.

"Besides, you provided a defense map, facility locations... all very detailed. Did you come prepared and conduct some research beforehand? If that's true, I'll give you a Xia Yi household registration. What's your name?"

He knelt down with a thud and said, "My name is Sang He. Actually, I have long been loyal to the Great Qian Dynasty."

"Warden, keep this guy healthy, I'll need him later."

Then Feng Tianyin whispered to Yu Xue:

"The victory in the war was due to the correct guidance of Heaven, and had nothing to do with the traitor. So don't reward him openly, but reward him secretly."

"Yes, sir."

Chapter 22: Warfare is about stacking forces

On the day the troops were deployed.

Having finished his routine system maintenance, Xia He cast his gaze, using an imperceptible God-like perspective to survey the Xia Yi city-state from a higher dimension.

This was arguably the largest army ever formed in the history of the Great Qian Dynasty.

Despite numbering only 500, under Feng Tianyin's command, both men and warhorses were clad in armor, armed to the teeth. This defensive capability alone created a significant gap between them and the barbarians.

Not to mention the invisible differences:

One of the benefits of joining the army is that you get to eat meat every day, which helps you stay healthy and strong. The food is plentiful and you can eat until you're full, so every soldier is strong and tall.

Their basic physical fitness is essential to mastering heavy equipment and converting it into combat power.

Everyone gathered in the square and erected long spears, which shone brightly in the sunlight.

The surrounding crowd looked at the metallic sheen with a mixture of excitement and awe. This was the foundation of Xia Yi's sense of security; even without towering city walls, there were absolutely reliable warriors, elites selected through rigorous processes.

"Is war finally about to break out?"

"Not necessarily. Didn't the High Priest agree to the request to join?"

"We agreed, but we can't completely trust the enemy."

"That's right. If they dare to mess with us, we'll get war too, and we'll fight them to the end."

"If anything happens to me, I, as a reserve officer, can step in."

"Don't say anything unlucky. With the High Priest here, we'll be invincible. Even the Heavenly Dao won't allow us to suffer too much loss..."

It really is.

Xia He knew very well how rare this ranged army was, and losing it would be a great loss. After all, Feng Tianyin had a knack for training troops, managing to assemble such a formidable force at the end of the ancient era.

[Military Unit: Daqian Expeditionary Force]

[Status: Morale 120%, Training Level 150%, Organization Level 150%]